Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass => Topic started by: Linda-5 on February 02, 2014, 10:27:38 PM
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Hello, I am new to this forum and I purchased this Cameo Glass Vase at an Estate sale and the person said it was Galle purchased in Arizona. I paid $60 and I have this feeling it is 100% Fake can somebody help me in verifying this vase.
Is there any value to this vase?
Thank You
Linda
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Hello Linda welcome to the board,I'm afraid you may be right,it looks a little 'dodgy' to me,$60 for a real Galle would have been quite a find, :o ;D ;D ;D
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Welcome to the board. Let me assure you that you have not overpaid. Sixty is what these Romanian or Chinese copies are sold for - sometimes a lot more :-)
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Just wondering if I was correct that this a Fake? I appreciate the responses and it sounds like it is
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Yes, it is. But it's still lovely and you didn't overpay at all.
I reckon it's a lot nicer than most Chinese ones I have seen and handled - it looks far less crude.
Now it's up to you to decide if you want to put water and vegetation in a $60 vase. :)
You wouldn't be damaging a real Galle if you did.
Welcome. :)
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Thank You for all the feedback
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Some "Galle" (and other maker) items may well have been made to deceive and therefore were true fakes.
However, there are many items that were, and still are, made as "copies" and which were sold as such, especially for outlets like the interior decorator market. But because those items rarely have a true identifying mark, when the pieces enter the secondary market, problems occur.
This has been dsicussed at length in the Board.
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Making and selling something without permanently marking it as a copy or reproduction makes the term fake accurate. A more accurate term would be forgery is the company or its successors is still in existance and holds patents or trademarks. I believe that this is especially true when a fake signature is included on the piece such as the Galle name on the side of this vase.
I personally would not attach the kind of value that you paid for this, but that is only my personal opinion. I do think that it looks nice and would make a nice every day vase for flowers that you would not need to worry about damaging.
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:)
They are still Cameo work, which is an intensive, skilled process. You have to consider the cost of making such a piece.
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Yes it does take some time to make, but consider the average wage of a factory worker in Guangdong Province in China - which has the highest wages of any province and where many of the factories are located. It is about 1,500 to 1,600 yuan a month which is about $250 for 160 hours of work or about $1.56 an hour. Even if the cameo work takes several hours, that is still a very small amount of money. And the detail is not as fine as on a real Galle so the amount of hours to make a fake would be less.
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You have a fair point.
The lack of a level playing field globally does allow for dreadful exploitation of poor workers - and at the expense of employment in richer countries!
I have seeen and handled a lot of Chinese ones, the edges of the cameo work are quite sharp and defined, although often rough. This one looks to be of quite superior quality to those I have seen - but not a patch on a real Galle.
The real thing stands out like a sore thumb when you see it; delicate, subtle and utterly, utterly beautiful; it could never be mistaken for the later copies. :)
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I absolutely agree with you, Sue. Real Galle are authentic objects d'art. I admire them everytime I see one.
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I'm more likely to stand in front of it, catching flies in my open mouth and to stop breathing. ;D
There was the most wonderful piece I saw in London - a footed bowl with moths on it. I'd seen pictures of it in books, it's a well-known piece.
Nothing could have prepared me for the breathtaking experience of seeing it in reality, even though it was locked up in a glass cabinet and I couldn't see it properly, in the round.
I banged my head on that cabinet, several times! :-[ ;D
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[Mod: A new topic (The best cameo work? (http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,55626.0.html)) has been created out of posts originally appended from this point onward.]
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I agree it's a lovely vase for the money regardless of who made it a bargain.